Lights is out with the video for the Adam Young Remix of ‘Saviour’, a song off the Canadian synthpop artist’s debut album ‘The Listening’, out now. Watch it via Twitvid below.
Lights is out with the video for the Adam Young Remix of ‘Saviour’, a song off the Canadian synthpop artist’s debut album ‘The Listening’, out now. Watch it via Twitvid below.
Lights checked in backstage to shares stories about her UK shows, her semi-revolving set list, pre-show rituals, Hatebreed tweets, what’s on her tour rider and what it’s like to be a part of the Owl City tour.
“Live, there are only three of us on stage,” Lights explained. “I play keyboards, keytar and mini controller and have the ability to move around a little bit. It was never meant to be a schtick when I first started playing the keytar, but it kind of happened. It’s for practical reasons. I’m able to be more mobile on stage. Adam, my other keyboard player, plays keyboards as well, and I have a live drummer. Just need the energy live. It really adds to electronic music and it’s a little bit heavier live as a result.”
On her set list, the singer said, “I have the ones that I really can get the best reaction and I play those all the time. But I always have a slot where I can swap in and out of. I won’t get a chance to play all of them, so it’s like ‘Face Up’, ‘Quiet’, ‘Pretend’, a bunch of these songs that I rotate depending on how the crowd feels or whatever.”
On show prep, she said, “As time goes on, I don’t need a pre-show ritual. I just squat around and wait for the show to come about. I’m actually currently on Twitter and kind of excited because I got a tweet from Jamey Jasta who is actually the singer for Hatebreed and I’m a huge Hatebreed fan.”
On a real time crowd reaction to her just completed live set, Lights explained, “I always gauge it, by the way I’m talking really fast because I’m energized and that happens. Second song, if people are energetic second song then you know it’s gonna be a really great show. If they’re not then you really need to work it and it comes the fourth or fifth song but today they started getting energetic second song and it was really awesome.”
Watch it via MySpace below.
Lights sat down for an interview with Keyboard Magazine editor Stephen Fortner before her show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco a few months ago.
The Canadian singer discussed how she got involved with making synth sounds, the equipment she uses, her infamous keytar and why she names it Russell, other keyboards she’d like to get, what she’s got in her home studio, music she grew up listening to, her tattoos and her ‘World of Warcraft’ obsession.
Watch it below.
Lights’ 34th video blog features the Canadian synthpop singer performing a song off her debut album ‘The Listening’. “I’m back with a blog for the first time in more than 7 months.. wow,” Lights writes. “Anyways… I have never done an acoustic rendition of ‘Second Go’, and it helped me chill out tonight in my hotel room. Love!” Watch it via YouTube below.
Lights sent a message to fans during a stop on the Owl City tour in Charlston, South Carolina on February 1st.
“We are almost two weeks into the Owl City tour. It’s been awesome,” Lights said in the brief video. “It’s my first time here, it’s a really cool town and I’m feeling really good about the show tonight… If you guys end up near one of the shows, you should totally come.”
Watch it via her MySpace below.
The fifth issue of ‘Audio Quest: A Capt. Lights Adventure’ has been posted online. The motion comic series by artist Tomm Coker features the Canadian synthpop singer exploring planet Isis to find out the source of a new waveform, but then runs into trouble in the form of a giant wolf. Watch it via her MySpace below.
Lights has announced dates for a U.S. tour with Owl City in support of her recently released debut album ‘The Listening’. The nationwide string of dates, which follow her first ever headlining American tour, kicked off January 21st in Kansas City, Missouri and run through February 10th in Little Rock, Arkansas. A special MySpace ticket presale will begin on Friday, October 16th, and general onsale will begin Saturday, October 24th.
Lights headlining tour dates are as follows:
10/20 - Mohawk Place - Buffalo, NY
10/21 - The Madhatter - Covington, KY
10/22 - The Mixtape Cafe - Grand Rapids. MI
10/23 - House of Bricks - Des Moines, IA
10/24 – The Pageant – St. Louis, MO
10/25 - Jackpot Saloon - Lawrence, KS
10/27 – Triple Rock – Minneapolis, MN
10/28 – Subterranean – Chicago, IL
10/30 – Hi Dive – Denver, CO
10/31 – Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT
11/03 – Troubadour – West Hollywood, CA
11/04 – Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
11/05 - Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR
11/06 - El Corazon - Seattle, WA
Lights and Owl City tour dates:
1/21 – Beaumont Club, Kansas City, MO
1/22 – Diamond ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
1/23 – Pageant – St. Louis, MO
1/24 – Egyptian Room – Indianapolis, IN
1/26 – Majestic – Madison, WI
1/27 – 20th Century – Cincinnati, OH
1/28 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
1/29 – Recher Theatre – Towson, MD
1/30 – Norva – Norfolk, VA
2/1 – Music Farm – Charleston, SC
2/2 – Freebird Live – Jacksonville, FL
2/3 – State Theatre – Tampa, FL
2/4 – Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
2/5 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL
2/6 – Melting Pot – Athens, GA
2/8 – Workplay Soundstage – Birmingham, AL
2/9 – Varsity Theatre – Baton Rouge, LA
2/10 – Rev Room – Little Rock, AK
MySpace Music’s Introducing filmed a short documentary about Lights in her hometown of Toronto to find out how she got her start, the story behind ‘February Air’, delving into comics after her move to Toronto, forming her band, performing her first show at The Supermarket, and more. The 22-year-old’s debut album ‘The Listening’ will be in stores on Tuesday (October 6) in America.
“One of the hardest things to do in life is to discover yourself, and in that same time as a musician, one of the hardest things do to is to discover your sound and your pocket and where you belong in music,” Lights explained. “That was the biggest struggle for me, just trying to find out what I did the best. I ended up finding out which one made me the most happy, when I wanted to tell the whole world that I wrote this song. So the first one really began with ‘February Air’. I was so proud of this song. I wrote it on an acoustic guitar alone in this hotel room on Valentine’s Day and I was feeling really down in the dumps.”
Watch it below.
‘Audio Quest: A Capt. Lights Adventure’ is a new motion comic series coming to MTV and MTV.com on September 28th. The series is a collaboration between the Canadian synthpop singer and Marvel comics artist Tomm Coker. Watch a teaser via MySpace below.